[Society before and after the introduction of psychotropic drugs in therapeutic use].

Despite unavoidable subjectivity, it would appear that the use of antidepressive, anxiolytic and hypnotic agents has increased over the past years, although consumption of benzodiazepines appears to have stabilized recently. It is generally accepted that there has been a trend to medicalization of mainly social problems. The following factors have been considered: type of the person's request, with an often dominant role related to assisted behavior; medical responses, frequently marked by a preferential if not exclusive reliance on the chemical compound; financial limitations on national medical expenses, quite probably an indirect cause of changing status and role of medicine distorting the therapeutic relationships; marketing phenomena involving major economic challenges.

[Society before and after the introduction of psychotropic drugs for therapeutic use].

In spite of a part of unavoidable subjectivity, it seems that the use of antidepressive, anxiolytic and hypnotic agents has increased over the past years, but with a certain recent stabilization in the consumption of benzodiazepines. A slipping towards the medicalization of problems yet principally social is generally admitted. The following factors are specially considered: the type of request of the person, often dominated by a behaviour of "relieved" people; the medical answers, frequently marked with a preferential if not exclusive rest on the chemical molecule; the financial limitations imposed by the national level, very probable indirect origin of changes in the medical status and role, therefore of distortions concerning the therapeutic relation; a contrario, marketing phenomena involved in large economic challenges.